Chapter 265: Hunting Trek
"I finally understand why this planet doesn't look as severely damaged as it could have been," Ye Xing remarked, looking at the semi-mechanical zombies below.
"It's estimated that all humans on the entire planet have been parasitized and transformed, which is equivalent to their destruction. It's far more dangerous than it appears from outer space.
By the way, how many people lived here before the apocalypse?"
"Based on the city area and building density, it must have been over a trillion," Ma Lou said.
"Then it's possible that the underground areas and buildings are completely filled with these things."
"That's great!"
Guo Li Cheng only saw the rise of another dungeon-leveling planet.
"We'll talk about these things after we've conquered it," Prairie said, disengaging the safety on his Dragon Breath shotgun. "These zombies don't have high-power weapons, so let's go down and deal with them directly, then continue forward."
At his command, 45 Soldiers jumped down.
Upon seeing normal humans, the semi-mechanical zombies were immediately activated and charged forward.
Their physical qualities were indeed much higher than humans, but their bodies were only composed of ordinary organic matter and metal, and their only weapons were claws and teeth. They were no match for these elite players, who averaged level 24.
The close-range blast from the Dragon Breath quickly incinerated hundreds of converging mechanical zombies, piling up a circle of charred corpses around the squad.
"Should we take samples? I feel like their mechanical parasites and prosthetics still have some research value."
Someone asked Prairie after the battle.
"Just scan them for now."
Prairie replied, scanning his surroundings. His gaze was quickly drawn to some unusual things not far away.
Ye Xing also noticed, and the two walked over in unison, with the others following closely behind.
At the base of the building wall lay 5 bodies that had not been infested by mechanical entities.
They wore some kind of carbon composite armor. Their bodies had long since decayed, but judging from the remaining skeletons, their heights were all above two meters, with the tallest approaching 2.3 meters.
"This... the natives' nutrition seems pretty good, huh?" Ye Xing joked.
"Nonsense—" Dan Ta pointed to the mechanical zombies around them. "Look, their physiques are just normal human size."
"Could they be the local basketball team?"
"How is that possible? These are clearly Soldiers—"
"They're Super Soldiers!" Someone in the team saw the clue.
"It's like the Spartan program in 'Halo.' The elite troops of the golden age were definitely deeply genetically modified, so it's normal for their physiques to be a size larger than ordinary people!"
"Oh—then what do you guys think, could the Super Soldier modification and training base be nearby?"
"I think it's very possible!"
"We'll explore this area later. Let's keep moving forward."
Prairie reminded everyone not to forget the true mission of this trip.
"I agree, let's hurry," Ye Xing said. "I just heard some more movement. Our previous battle probably disturbed some other things."
No sooner had he spoken than the sensors on the others' bodies also began to alarm, detecting numerous footsteps in the vicinity.
The Soldiers, with their mission in mind, did not intend to linger in battle. They immediately evacuated the building and continued on their way.
As they left, Ye Xing looked back to ensure they weren't being pursued.
At that moment, he saw two humans run out of the hall where the battle had just occurred.
Ye Xing was certain that neither of these two was parasitized by mechanical entities.
Their posture and movements were very natural; it was clear at a glance that they were humans. They wore powered exoskeletons, carried large packs on their backs, and had various other devices whose functions were not yet discernible. Their clothes were not tattered but were very old.
"I knew it! There really are native survivors!"
Ye Xing quickly zoomed in his view and then shared it with his teammates.
In the image, a male and female native ran in panic to the base of the building ruins, tugged hard on a cable hanging there, and then held on tightly.
Looking up along the cable, everyone saw a makeshift cantilever platform built by humans on the exterior of the building four to five hundred meters above their heads. There was also a person on the platform, guarding a motor used for raising and lowering the cable.
"I understand now. The survivors here usually live in abandoned skyscrapers, in high, easily defensible places," Ma Lou said as they continued on their way.
"The ground and underground are too dangerous for them, so they can only periodically send out agile scavenging teams to collect supplies below." "Hmm. This way of life does indeed conform to the actual situation on Ruins Star," said Commander Prairie.
"And it feels quite interesting, doesn't it?" Dan Ta started chatting again. "Have you ever seen a comedy zombie movie called 'Zombieland'? In the second movie, there's a group of survivors whose camp is on the rooftop of a high-rise building."
"Oh, oh! Now that you mention it, I think I remember it."
Ma Lou, who had real outdoor survival experience, chuckled.
"It's fine to live there for a few days for the novelty, but if you're permanently settled, the scarcity of supplies and mental pressure definitely wouldn't be very interesting."
Dan Ta, who had no outdoor experience, also admitted this point.
"Hmm... But if the natives are truly short on supplies, that's good news for us."
"Why?"
"Because then we can use supplies as gifts to easily build good relations with them, and later we can ask them to be our guides!"
The First Battle Group maintained a serious yet lively state, running and climbing among the architectural ruins, occasionally activating their jet engines to fly over gullies and pitfalls below, pushing forward at high speed.
During the process, the players at the vanguard and rearguard positions maintained high vigilance, while those in the middle could relax a bit and chat with each other.
The two groups rotated every half hour to prevent prolonged mental strain and fatigue.
Finally, after more than three hours of trekking, the team arrived at the designated location.
"After passing through the high-rise building ahead, we should be able to see the BOSS," Prairie said, pointing forward amidst a scorched yellow nuclear blast zone.
"Let's take a quick five-minute break here. Everyone, check your equipment and stay sharp!"
"Understood!"
At this time, the Big Squid had already stopped its bombardment.
However, the surrounding temperature was still four to five degrees higher than the surroundings. This was caused by the air being heated by high-power lasers and close-range nuclear blasts earlier.
Even after three hours, it had not completely cooled down.
After the Soldiers successfully landed, Cangyuan's fleet and air force began to fight and retreat. During this time, they not only repelled Dark Sun's fighter squadron but also successfully shot down Dark Sun's flagship with their absolute superiority in electromagnetic cannon firepower, winning a beautiful battle.
The ground squad, without portable hibernation pods, could not connect to Earth's intranet and had to maintain medium-to-long-range radio silence, effectively being out of contact with the fleet.
However, everyone could feel a certain atmosphere, and a certain intuition existed in their hearts.
Prairie climbed onto a pile of rubble, raising his right fist.
"Brothers, I believe our comrades have brilliantly completed their mission. Now, the entire operation plan is just one step away! We must capture that big guy and not let down everyone's hard work and sacrifice!"
"Yes, let's do it! We can't give up at the last minute!"
"Let's go! WAAAGH!"
The elites of the First Battle Group immediately entered an extremely serious state. No one chatted anymore; they lowered their stances, tried not to make a sound, and rushed into the architectural ruins like ghosts.
"I see it! Target spotted, gather on me!"
Ye Xing led the way, bringing everyone to a hole in the wall on the partially collapsed basement level of a building.
Concealing themselves, they peered out. The war beast was sprawled on a large expanse of collapsed ruins three kilometers away, its tail tip soaring almost a thousand meters into the air, nearly piercing the clouds, looking incredibly oppressive.
"There!"
Ye Xing pointed to a section of the Big Squid's black body, a piece of outer skin structure with a completely different surface craftsmanship style, showing human engineering characteristics.
"That section should have been added later. The square structure in the middle should be the airtight door for personnel entry."
"Hmm. Then we'll attack there."
Prairie fully agreed with his old partner's judgment.
He turned his head and gently waved his hand, and an 8-person squad immediately stepped forward.
Soon, these eight people each found their positions and took heavy rocket launchers from their backs.
Those were not ordinary rocket launchers; they carried small nuclear warheads with a yield of 10,000 tons.